Are you Super? Will you Submit

The loc­al gov­ern­ment com­mis­sion has pro­posed a reor­gan­isa­tion of the Wel­ling­ton region, which you can read more about over on the loc­al gov­ern­ment com­mis­sion site. The region­al coun­cil is split over the pro­pos­al. Per­haps more import­antly, accord­ing to Stuff, only 26% of Wel­ling­to­ni­ans are in favour of the pro­pos­al. We’re not tak­ing a side here […]

Nga Manu Nature Reserve (Waikanae)

Yep, its not food.  But I was ser­i­ously impressed with this place in our back yard that I had no clue exis­ted. Nga Manu is the largest remain­ing rem­nant of coastal low­land swamp forest on the Kapiti Coast, and was estab­lished as a reserve in 1974.  It has developed over the years to the well laid […]

Putting them away with JK: We attend an Event at Tuatara’s new brewery

It’s 9:50am and the glit­ter­ati of Par­a­pa­raumu are itch­ing to get they drank on. Out­side the brand-new Tuatara Brrry (or Brew­ery, as it’s known on paper), they huddle under the awn­ing to escape a rain that nev­er falls, hug­ging the out­er wall of the benighted edi­fice – hop­ing, per­haps, to osmose their way to double-vis­ion. […]

Plenty to wine about

There comes a time in every­one’s life when they feel the need to leave Wel­ling­ton, even if it’s just for one day. No really, it hap­pens! And a par­tic­u­larly good day to get out of town, if you don’t like the col­our green, or pota­toes, or Guiness or drunk­en fake-Irish louts, would be this Sat­urday. So where to go to get away? How about a wine fest­iv­al – after we all know, that wine drink­ers are a bet­ter class of people than beer drink­ers – some­where out of town but still nearby?

Well it just so hap­pens that March 17 is your lucky day, with not one but two fest­ivals tak­ing place nearby. There’s the Wair­ar­apa Wines Har­vest Fest­iv­al in Glad­stone (as well as the Inter­na­tion­al Bal­loon Fiesta and the day before Round the Vines, and also the Great Wel­ling­ton Wine and Food Fest­iv­al in Paekakariki. So how do you choose which one to go to when they both cost $25 for an entrance fee? Take our quiz to find out.

The Southward Car Museum

Look­ing for some­thing to do with all these loooong, sunny days we’re hav­ing? Let me recom­mend a trip to the South­ward Car Museum, just north of Par­a­pa­raumu.

Driv­ing into the car­park you feel like you’ve spent back in time – to the 1960s. The build­ing is fant­ast­ic, a large con­crete bunker. The grounds are care­fully man­i­cured, with beds of marigolds. Take your old Tup­per­ware pic­nic set and relive a sim­pler time.

Walk­ing in, there is a 1960s Fer­rari on a rotat­ing plinthe, and a gor­geous Mer­cedes sports car. You can­’t help but play “which car would you take home” – except by the time you leave it is “which dozen cars, planes, and bikes would you take home”.

Entry is $10 for adults, $3 for chil­dren (5–15), and pre-school­ers are free.

Te Horo’s Hydeaway!

I know a dark secluded place A place where no one knows your face A glass of wine a fast embrace It’s called…Te Horo’s Hydeaway…CAFE (Apo­lo­gies to Adler & Ross.) About 50 minutes drive North of Wellin­gon on State High­way 1, is the turnoff to Te Horo beach. On the corner on your left, is […]